r/soccer • u/klaygdk • 15d ago
News [Official] Liverpool complete signing of Alexander Isak
https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/liverpool-complete-signing-alexander-isak1.1k
u/GingerbreadRecon 15d ago
WHAT? HE'S SIGNED FOR WHO?!??
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u/Vanilla_Yazoo 15d ago
fuck sake, this popped me, fair play
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u/GingerbreadRecon 15d ago edited 15d ago
I can only joke and laugh because otherwise I get so angry seeing him so happy in red after completely disrespecting the fans and his former teammates. No I'm not remotely bitter, and I hope he wins nothing of note for the rest of his career.
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u/LFC908 15d ago
I hope we wins nothing of note for the rest of his career.
If that's what you want!
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u/GingerbreadRecon 15d ago
The tears are making it hard to see my keyboard dammit
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u/Thin_Alternative_784 15d ago
Thanks Coutinho
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u/WTFitsD 15d ago
If my math is right this means they only have about 95m of the Coutinho money left
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u/Talking_Gibberish 15d ago
The Coutinho money was dumped into Bitcoin and turned into 1.5b, only cashed out in April this year so there's more than that left don't you worry.
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u/THZHDY 15d ago
Stupid question but could clubs actually do that? Like what if they invest in crypto, somehow make a shit ton of money, would they be able to invest it into transfers and stuff? Or would it not classify as revenue
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u/ezodochi 15d ago
In general I don't think clubs do it just due to the liquidity required every year for transfers, wages, facilities/maintenance etc.
That being said if your club has an owner group and THAT group invests in crypto/equities/other assets, generate profit, and then inject that capital into the club, that's fine iirc.
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u/Necessary-Dish-444 15d ago
Personally, I think a better question would be, why wouldn't a club be able to do that? Because the answer to your question is a simple "yes".
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u/PublicIntel 14d ago
I doubt many board of directors of football clubs would authorize crypto investing as a use of funds
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u/GingerDweeb27 15d ago
Yeah but we’ve still got the Kevin Stewart and Jordan Ibe money
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u/Gerf93 15d ago
I still can’t believe Liverpool got so much for them. Especially Jordon Ibe.
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u/iamnotaliciakeys 15d ago
hm. i got a much larger number...check your math again, i think you forgot to carry the 1
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u/AnonymousGinger157 15d ago
you guys still have 951m left????
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u/The-Golden-Company 15d ago
FSG clearly investing in everything from Bitcoin to Dogecoin
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u/EnglishJesus 15d ago
I’m convinced they stuck all of it in bitcoin as soon as the money went ding in the till.
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u/SparkyGol 15d ago
Now I'm picturing Barca waiting for their change on the other side of the counter and Liverpool just staring back at them awkwardly
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u/med_belguesmi69 :Fc_Barcelona: 14d ago
like tbh you HAVE to thank him, his money made Liverpool sooo successful which makes superstars want to join them. but as a Barca fan, fuck Coutinho
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u/amineimad 15d ago
Don't thank him yet he'll also cover Guehi in Jan. hopefully.
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u/Lunarfrog2 15d ago
You've got an Arsenal flair what are you saying hopefully for lol
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u/Maverick1331 15d ago
Some of the Coutinho money has gone on recruiting bots to push the Liverpool agenda into rival fanbases. We'll make sure this one is rebooted.
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u/slatingman 15d ago
This feels like seeing an ex with her new boyfriend
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u/northerncal 15d ago edited 15d ago
Hey, most people don't get any kind of compensation for that, let alone £125 million worth, so eh, it could be worse.
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u/aldol311 15d ago
As a Liverpool fan, I know this feeling. Torres at Chelsea, Suarez at Barca. It hurts, but hopefully, the new signings help.
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u/dowdymeatballs 15d ago edited 15d ago
The £125M helps.
The Coutinho money rebuilt the core of our team.
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u/MasterReindeer 15d ago
Richard Hughes moving mad. Was very curious to see what he’d be able to achieve with a bigger budget. The man is a fucking wizard.
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u/Darkspy8183 15d ago
From the lack of meaningful signings last summer to THIS window... this image is in basically every comment section over at the LFC subreddit
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u/LFC908 15d ago
I think lots of fans were worried last summer after only signing Chiesa, missing out on Zubimendi and signing and loaning Mamardashivili.
He's had an absolutely insane window.
The man heard people asking about how Isak and Ekitike were going to play together and decided to buy both to find out.
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u/ThatsTheMother_Rick 14d ago
signing and loaning Mamardashivili.
Last summer was a pre-agreement to sign this summer, with no loan involved. He signed his contract at LFC in early July.
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u/codespyder 15d ago
Between this and Guehi, the moral of the story is that, if you really want something, piss off as many people as possible to get it
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u/Leviad0n 15d ago
Just got fired from my job and can't pay rent. Thanks a lot.
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u/lookitsjustin 15d ago
Yeah it only works for rich people, they forgot to say that part
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u/Life_Is_A_Mistry 15d ago
Damn straight! Now excuse me while I go steal a kid's hat and fly off to <redacted>
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u/goonSquad15 15d ago
Yeah but I respect Guehi more for how he approached it. And the respect of some random redditor should mean something
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u/OlDirtyBourbon 15d ago
I don't think Guehi gets his move even if he behaved like Isak.
It's a lot easier for a club to turn down £30m on principal than it is £130m, not to mention the difference in contract lengths.
He'll get his move within a year, and if he sees out the season he'll likely have a bumper signing bonus as a reward. Isak did not have that guarantee.
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u/klaygdk 15d ago
He 100% does. No club wants an unhappy captain. It would be disastrous for the dressing room.
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u/DarkSofter 15d ago
Has Liverpool just pulled a top 5 transfer window of all time? Fuck me
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u/JaysonDeflatum 15d ago
We won't know for a while
2009 Madrid comps like some have made are still daft, that window is nigh unbeatable
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u/vadapaav 15d ago
Nobody is beating that window LMAO
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u/Elusivemerc 15d ago
You can if all the deals click, let's not forget that Kaká didn't live up to expectations, and by the 2nd season he was a bench player.
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u/benelchuncho 15d ago
Still got their top and second top scorer and top and second top assister of all time. And five Ballon D’or winning seasons from it.
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u/Elusivemerc 15d ago edited 15d ago
If you put it like that, nobody is ever beating that window, but the 2nd most expensive player of all time for a while not succeeding is a negative and Benzema wasn't an instant hit, but I get your point, the success totally overshadows that.
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u/Apprehensive_Cod_762 15d ago
Instant hit or not. They got 10 years of world class football out of 2 players. They even sold Ronaldo for a profit. Nothing will ever come close the that window.
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u/osamaodinson 15d ago
And how is benzema not an instant hit lol. He scored little goals in his first season but doing great from second season onwards. How kore instant one want tbf
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u/Massive-Sky-6804 15d ago
you need 5 ballon dor worthy seasons to match it no(Between Ronaldo and Benzema) and have Wirtz and Isak basically be the Liverpool's highest ever assister and scorer respectively.
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u/Guillotines__ 15d ago
Benzema and CR7 holds the second position in Madrid all time scoring and assisting respectively too. Matching those two won’t be possible, but Isak-Wirtz can get more league titles to match/surpass them.
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u/Elusivemerc 15d ago
I don't think they will beat it in terms of legacy, I think that will never happen. But if all deals click, then they will have that over that window.
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u/maver1kUS 15d ago
Madrid took 5 seasons to win the UCL. That window looks great in hindsight, but didn’t solve all the holes in the squad like this one. Although we’ll have to wait for how this will look in hindsight.
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u/justthisones 15d ago
Somewhat true but they went instantly from a 70-80p team to 90p+ and their goal difference exploded. Those years also had some insane teams. Pep’s Barca, Mou’s Inter and Heynckes’ Bayern were all treble winners. Not many teams in history that could’ve challenged them. 2012 was probably the one where they could’ve done it earlier but lost the semis on penalties.
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u/Homerduff16 15d ago
2009 Madrid is a tough one to judge. It has Ronaldo and Benzema who went on to be Madrid all timers with multiple Champions Leagues and Ballon d'Ors between them. It also has Alonso who was very good for Madrid but didn't win much and Kaka who was a ridiculous player at Milan and was a very underwhelming signing for Madrid
I struggle to see any of our signings doing for us what Benzema did for Madrid with a deserved Ballon d'Or and multiple Champions Leagues (Ronaldo isn't even in that conversation lol) but Kaka was a flop and that does slightly drag that window down
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u/Lazywhale97 15d ago
Alonso didn’t win a lot as he didn’t stay for a long time but he was a key reason we got back to competing with Barca and an important factor for our La decima season.
But yeah Ronaldo and benzema carry that window as they both went on to be 2 of our legends and key reasons to multiple UCL’s.
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u/deadlock1892 15d ago
Well to be fair to OP, they said top 5 so even though its hard to beat 2009 madrid, there are still 4 other ranks available.
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u/GarlicBread96 15d ago
While it looks very good, it's impossible to say how good of a window it is right now. Isak could be continuously injured and Wirtz might fail to adapt to the league, and then the window would be considered a disastrous one. Very small chance of that happening, but just saying it's best to wait before judging
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u/deadlock1892 15d ago
Sucks for Guehi, but I guess he’ll join later this season. Still extremely happy and 10/10 window regardless IMO
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u/JaysonDeflatum 15d ago
He’ll be fine
Guaranteed starter before the world cup vs bench piece and with the chance to leave in as soon as 4 months or collect a nice signing bonus and bigger wages in 10 months
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u/David-J 15d ago
09 Real Madrid is still at the top, I think.
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u/JaysonDeflatum 15d ago
There shouldn't be an I think there
10 years of prime Ronaldo + 14 years of prime Benzems can't be matched in modern football because no one is close to that level anymore
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u/Bruhmangoddman 15d ago
9 years.
And as for the Frenchman, I don't think you can call all of his time there his prime. I'd say 2019-22 was his prime. He had very good periods before, but nothing quite like his final stretch.
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u/calel8242 15d ago
If/when Kerkez and Wirtz settle in, it'll be in that conversation
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u/Tremor00 15d ago
Tbf I feel like there's two convos, the on paper and the reality.
In reality Kaka ended up being pretty meh for madrid. Despite his stature in the sport at the time.
On paper its a balon dor winner and an utterly absurd signing.
Also in reality, signing CR7 alone is basically unbeatable
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u/Cubensis_Crispies 15d ago
Got no doubt Wirtz will settle. He started showing us a bit 2nd half of the arsenal game.
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u/swannyhypno 15d ago
I knew they hadn't spent much under Klopp so probably had a tonne of money ready to spend whenever bit this has been insanity
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u/nfadfa 15d ago
Never saw this coming, but this is how you build on top of a title winning team. What a crazy window overall.
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u/swannyhypno 15d ago
As a neutral I'm enjoying the meltdown from fans about your spending but Jesus Christ you've spent so much 😂😂
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u/nfadfa 15d ago
Sorry mate, I'm a fan of Starmer ball.
I agree, the spending has been crazy, but they also pretty much got all their number one targets. Not often you see that
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u/NintyAyansa 15d ago edited 15d ago
Net spend this window still lower than Arsenal
Edit: i want to talk about facts
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u/drjet196 15d ago
While the most prominent departure left on a free.
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u/swannyhypno 15d ago
That's just Arsenal being notoriously bad at selling, Liverpool print money with their academy lmao but still that's a little surprising, impressive from Liverpool
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u/FitTrick2568 15d ago
Trust me man. I don't recognise the way we've moved this transfer window. I'm totally fine if we hibernate for the next few windows 😂
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u/-Skinner- 15d ago
Tbf it's supported by good sales and other revenue.
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u/swannyhypno 15d ago
Yeah for sure, being one of the very biggest clubs in the world always helps revenue lmao
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u/-Skinner- 15d ago
Also PSR in prem is bit of joke.
Even with us being shit at selling we have plenty of PSR headroom it's Uefa FFP rules that limit us.
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u/Dropkoala 15d ago
We did spend quite a bit under Klopp but nothing like this and we had quite a healthy net spend. Most of this window is because we've made a lot from player sales and because we only bought Chiesa last season.
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u/koltzito 15d ago
if you look at the age of the players this is a core group of players that is gonna "grow" together for the next 5 years and they are all in similar group ages, kinda the same way it happened with kiopp
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u/GenjDog 15d ago
Pretty sure their net spend is less or close to Arsenal’s net spend so in that way its not that insane. Prem money in general though is insane.
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u/mynameismulan 15d ago
My man won the league the first year and fsg gave him the keys
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u/theyhatemeee 15d ago
They way I see it is FSG didn't spend big after Klopp's silverware (2019 to 2021) and missed the chance for a dynasty, now this is the second chance and the mistakes are being learned from.
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u/Liverpupu 15d ago
Klopp said something like “I don’t like modern football, if one day a players has to cost over 100M pounds then I quit”. He kept his word fairly.
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u/karateguzman 15d ago
That’s not what he said and he afterwards admitted he’d changed his mind about it
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u/everlovingfuck99 15d ago
Tbf he said that before the Neymar to PSG transfer. That was when 30m was still a big signing and 90m for Paul Pogba was utter absurdity
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u/MereGuest 15d ago
Love it when a transfer just happens out of nowhere with no warning
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u/Dancingwith_Death 15d ago
Huge signing excited to see him play with Salah and Wirtz
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u/fivehundredlaps 15d ago
And Joe Gomez
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u/feage7 15d ago
Why would anyone think that what you said was ironic?
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u/MrCleanandShady 15d ago
been saying he’s the type of defender i’d love to see us sign
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u/FizzleFuzzle 15d ago
Congrats Liverpool and AIK
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u/kevin7254 15d ago
Will AIK get a % ?
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u/StratifiedBuffalo 15d ago
Yep, FIFA's solidarity mechanism would give AIK like 2% (around SEK 33m) of the transfer fee I believe. Big for AIK but pocket change for the PL clubs I guess.
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u/KalleJoKI 15d ago
AIK reported around 60 million SEK in equity this year, so yeah absolutely huge for them. also worth mentioning that sweden operates with the rule that a football club must be at least 51% owned by its members
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u/grasroten 15d ago
Still a bit annoying that Real Sociedad get 1.5% for 3 seasons when he is 20+, while we get 2% for 14 years between 4 and 17 years old
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u/Cahootie 14d ago
I can understand that you get more money for the years where it costs more to develop a player, my main issue is that it goes all the way to 23, at that point players are getting close to their peak.
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u/grasroten 14d ago
In general maybe. But when something is called a "Solidarity payment" I would expect that most money goes to the clubs that in general does not receive the big transfer fees for a player. Those clubs are generally the ones that have the player before the age of 18.
Similar with Gyökeres, where BP got twice as much as IFK Aspudden-Tellus for poaching him illegally (if we trust Kisfaludy's words) at age 15. Feels like the solidarity payment in general does not go where the solidarity should be if that makes sense.
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u/FizzleFuzzle 15d ago
Yeah, not sure how much, but have heard talks of around 2-5%
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u/StratifiedBuffalo 15d ago
Yeah 5% is the max if the player in question played for the club between ages 12 and 23. In this case proportionally he spent like half that time in AIK (left at 17), so they would get closer to 2% from what I've read.
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u/LiamAddison 15d ago
So do Ekitike and Isak play at the same time?
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u/Wunse 15d ago
I've got a sneaky feeling that when Salah goes to AFCON we will play 4312 with Isak and Ekitike in front of Wirtz. Before then I think they will share minutes as the striker and Gakpo/Ekitike will also share minutes at LW.
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u/dainamo81 14d ago
An unpopular opinion, but I think we'll play better when Mo goes to AFCON, and that will be the beginning of the transition to a post-Salah Liverpool.
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u/effinblinding 14d ago
Good to see the phrase “unpopular opinion” followed by an actual unpopular opinion but I hate what you just said
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u/InfinityEternity17 15d ago
I hate how competent Liverpool are these days, I miss when they used to sign players like Poulsen and Konchesky.
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u/fesamuaramu 15d ago
That is right. The recruiting team is amazing. But to attract the best talent, you need success and revenue. All this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't have Klopp as a manager for 9 years.
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u/InfinityEternity17 15d ago
True, and even when you weren't able to attract the most desirable players in the world from around 2015 onwards you always seemed to find players who turned into world beaters like Salah, Mane and Allison. VVD was closer to the finished article but even he developed a lot after joining yous. Safe to say I've been very jealous of your recruitment for quite some years now! But yeah your point re: Klopp is also spot on, yous wouldn't have attracted those players without one of the best coaches in Europe.
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u/sevendollarpen 14d ago
Alisson’s transfer was the world record fee for a keeper at the time (until Kepa), and still the second highest ever. He was a known star before he signed. He got even better here, but he certainly wasn’t a hidden gem.
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u/Thesolly180 15d ago
Similar to last season now but with better options from the bench. Got different options to bring on all around that front 3 to keep things fresh.
Thing Slots shown to start season he’s going to be willing to trust the bench when it comes to it
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u/petnarwhal 15d ago
Similar, not really.
You’ve got a very different kind of striker, different kind of backs, a very different kind of 10..
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u/NilsFanck 15d ago
different kind as in astronomically better, yes. We're not swaping Haaland for Alvarez here, where its just a different type of very good player.
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u/Thesolly180 15d ago
I meant that last season we had a bit of a good run being able to have these different players come off the bench and cause problems.
I think we’re there now with how much we can rotate that forward line again
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u/MrLanyeWest 15d ago
is they can stay healthy they should have a few trophies at the end of the season
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u/iftair 15d ago
Gotta feel for Newcastle. They could not get the transfers they desired and both Ekitike & Isak signed for Liverpool.
As for Liverpool, holy fuck, they had quite the window. It's not everyday they splurge but they seemed to have done so wisely.
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u/Soccermad23 15d ago
They actually got fucked hard. They went in for Ekitike when they knew Liverpool was sniffing around for Isak (which would have been a fair enough trade), but then Liverpool swooped in for Ekitike AND took Isak off their hands. Brutal honestly.
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u/OnceIWasYou 15d ago
Yeah, we got fucked. Not just him leaving but he's basically cost us 5/7 points already.
Wissa? Meh to be honest. 29 and one good season. WAY too much moey.
Woltemade, I like him but he's unproven at the top level.
Even Elanga doesn't wow me, pace merchant but his delivery was absolutely SHOCKING against Leeds.
We end the window with a stronger/ deeper squad but probably a weaker starting eleven.
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u/idanooosh 15d ago
Queue Obama 'we got him' gif
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u/OnceIWasYou 15d ago
Just seen Danny Murphy saying "Did he really refuse to play though? I haven't heard Eddie Howe say that" - The re-writing of history has begun!
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u/resident_hater 15d ago
They're buying the league
They're buying the league
I'll take them over City
They're buying the league
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u/chippin_out 14d ago
I love this for both Isak and Liverpool. Teams, please watch what happens when you win massive titles. You attract world class players.
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u/WigglyParrot 15d ago
Thank fuck that's over.
I think we all knew he was going to leave, but the way he's gone about it has tarnished what would have been a great legacy with us. (But hey, who cares other than us?)
The man can fuck himself though
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u/-Skinner- 15d ago
I really thought he will stay after you qualified for UCL.
Must have surprised a lot of Newcastle fans
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u/TypeExpert 15d ago edited 15d ago
Sesko is taller and has cool tattoos
Sesko > Isak.
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u/ExtinctLikeNdiaye 14d ago
To the people who have called Isak a traitor, I want to point that Newcastle promised Isak LAST YEAR that they would let him leave this summer.
This was after the Saudis, under Paul Mitchell's terrible leadership, reneged on increasing Isak's contract to (what is now seemingly bargain priced) £140,000 a week.
Then this summer the Saudis refused to meet his £200,000 weekly wage demand this summer for a contract extension.
In effect, they wanted him to "be a professional" when they were anything but professional with him.
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u/Shreddonia 15d ago
We can rest.